Tag: first amendment

Trump’s favorite conspiracy theorist joins his attacks on CNN

The following article by Oliver Willis was posted on the ShareBlue.com website July 27, 2018:

Trump and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones are both smearing CNN this week and pushing a fake story that conservatives are being ‘silenced.’

Less than 48 hours after Trump banned a CNN reporter from covering a White House event just for asking a question, his ally and informal adviser Alex Jones joined him in attacking the news network.

On Wednesday, after CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins asked Trump a series of questions during a press availability, Trump’s new deputy communications director Bill Shine personally banned Collins from covering another supposedly open press event later that day.

Taking his cue from the administration’s hostility to the free press — Trump prefers sycophantic outlets like Fox News — Jones followed suit with his own attacks on CNN.

View the complete article here.

How Conservatives Weaponized the First Amendment

The following article by Adam Liptak was posted on the New York Times website June 30, 2018:

Trump supporters signing a poster promoting free speech in 2017. Credit: Jim Wilson, The New York Times

WASHINGTON — On the final day of the Supreme Court term last week, Justice Elena Kagan sounded an alarm.

The court’s five conservative members, citing the First Amendment, had just dealt public unions a devastating blow. The day before, the same majority had used the First Amendment to reject a California lawrequiring religiously oriented “crisis pregnancy centers” to provide women with information about abortion.

Conservatives, said Justice Kagan, who is part of the court’s four-member liberal wing, were “weaponizing the First Amendment.”

View the complete article on the New York Times website.

Falsehoods, Sandy Hook and suing Alex Jones

The following article by Enrique Armijo, Associate professor of Law and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Elon University, was posted on the Conversation website June 1, 2018:

Funeral for Sandy Hook victim Credit: Getty Images

Alex Jones, a well-known media personality, falsely claims you were an accomplice in faking the murder of your own child.

You sue him.

It seems such a case should be easy to win, given the nature of those statements. But defamation law does not provide an equally easy answer. Continue reading “Falsehoods, Sandy Hook and suing Alex Jones”

The corrosion of support for First Amendment principles started before Trump. He’s supercharged it.

The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve was posted on the Washington Post website October 23, 2017:

THE BIG IDEA: Donald Trump celebrated Sunday that his campaign to delegitimize the free press is working.

President Trump arrives back at the White House yesterday after playing golf at his club in Sterling, Va. (Andrew Harnik/AP)

The president touted a Politico–Morning Consult poll published last week that found 46 percent of registered voters believe major news organizations fabricate stories about him. Just 37 percent of Americans think the mainstream media does not invent stories, while the rest are undecided. More than 3 in 4 Republicans believe reporters make up stories about Trump.

“It is finally sinking through,” the president tweeted.

The first rule of propaganda is that if you repeat something enough times people will start to believe it, no matter how false. Trump uses the bully pulpit of the presidency to dismiss any journalism he doesn’t like as “fake news.” This daily drumbeat has clearly taken a toll on the Fourth Estate. Continue reading “The corrosion of support for First Amendment principles started before Trump. He’s supercharged it.”

Why the divider in chief embraces culture wars

The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve was posted on the Washington Post website September 25, 2017:

Trump: Fire NFL players who kneel during national anthem

THE BIG IDEA: The most fitting slogan for Donald Trump’s populist campaign, which continues nearly a year after the 2016 election ended, might be “us against them.” I don’t know Latin, but I do know that what we saw from the president this weekend is the opposite of e pluribus unum. He is the divider in chief.

Trump, who was a developer before he became a reality TV star and then a politician, has long been a builder of straw men. Everyone knows that he trades on controversy, but his chaotic approach to governing also depends on constantly presenting the American people with false binary choices. Continue reading “Why the divider in chief embraces culture wars”

Support a free press locally and nationally

The following commentary by Sen. Amy Klobuchar was printed in the Eden Prairie News August 24, 2017:

In Minnesota, we understand the importance of a free press.  It’s hard to forget in our state — Minnesotans are among the most engaged citizens in the country.  Last year we again ranked first in the nation in voter turnout, Minnesotans volunteer at the second highest rate in the country.  And we usually look to our local newspapers as the first stop for the information we need.

In my house growing up, it was impossible to forget the importance of a free press.  My dad was a journalist.

As a reporter and a columnist, my dad, Jim Klobuchar, covered it all.  On the night of the presidential election in 1960, as a young stringer for the Associated Press, he was among the first in the country — if not the first — to call the race for President John F. Kennedy.  He was fearless, whether it was reporting from Moscow with a Soviet Intourism guide assigned to him at all times or taking tear gas covering protests outside of a political convention.  Digging for the truth was his job.  Finding the truth made it all worth it. Continue reading “Support a free press locally and nationally”

Trump Threatens Freedom Of The Press In Leaks Crackdown

The following article by Tom Porter with Newsweek was posted on the National Memo website August 6, 2017:

Satirists have repeatedly drawn on the similarities between President Donald Trump and Middle Eastern and African dictators, for installing his family in senior advisory positions in the White House as much as his excessive self-regard and his respect for military tough men. Now critics can tick off another point on the autocrat checklist following Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s announcement Friday of a new crackdown on leakers that will include a Justice Department (DOJ) review of policies governing how the department deals with media outlets that publish leaked information.

Sessions and National Intelligence Director Dan Coats announced at a press conference that more DOJ and FBI resources would be directed towards pursuing leakers, particularly those who pass information on to the press and foreign officials. Continue reading “Trump Threatens Freedom Of The Press In Leaks Crackdown”

Sessions says Justice Department will boost investigations of leaks, may pursue reporters

The following article by Joseph Tanfani was posted on the Los Angeles Times website August 4, 2017:

Credit:  John Locher/AP

Under pressure by President Trump to stanch unauthorized disclosures of classified information to the media, Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions on Friday announced new efforts to find and prosecute those responsible for what he called an “unprecedented rise in leaks” and threatened a more aggressive stance toward journalists.

Sessions revealed no new cases, but said the Department of Justice has tripled the number of leak investigations this year. The pace is so heavy, he said, that the FBI has increased resources for leak cases and has created a new counterintelligence squad to manage them.

He also said he was reconsidering policies put in place during the Obama administration that limited the information prosecutors could demand from reporters. Continue reading “Sessions says Justice Department will boost investigations of leaks, may pursue reporters”

Facebook says it shouldn’t have to stay mum when government seeks user data

The following article by Ann E. Marimow was posted on the Washington Post website July 15, 2017:

Demonstrators and police clash on the streets of the nation’s capital on Inauguration Day in January. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

Major technology companies and civil liberties groups have joined Facebook in a closed courtroom battle over secret government access to social media records.

Facebook is fighting a court order that prohibits it from letting users know when law enforcement investigators ask to search their political communications — a ban that Facebook contends tramples First Amendment protections of the company and individuals.

Most of the details of the case in the nation’s capital are under wraps, but the timing of the investigation, and references in public court documents, suggest the search warrants relate to demonstrations during President Trump’s inauguration. More than 200 people were detained and many have been charged with felony rioting in the Jan. 20 protests that injured police and damaged property in an area of downtown Washington. Continue reading “Facebook says it shouldn’t have to stay mum when government seeks user data”

In December, Spicer said barring media access is what a ‘dictatorship’ does. Today, he barred media access.

The following article by Philip Bump was posted on the Washington Post website February 24, 2017:

This post has been updated.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer barred reporters from several large media outlets from participating in a scheduled press briefing Friday. Two months ago, in a panel discussion, he insisted that open access for the media is “what makes a democracy a democracy versus a dictatorship.” Continue reading “In December, Spicer said barring media access is what a ‘dictatorship’ does. Today, he barred media access.”